Drunk in its stale airFor two hundred years.Fettered in mind and body,The soul, the safe escape

To let me breathe the criesOf my heart singingTears of mel-an-choly.

The tears flow free todayWashing the stains of bloodAnd sweat in brotherhood.

Raise the curtain then an'Let the world look inOn this promised land --We breathe free today.... almost.

--- Arshad M. Khan

We will be known forever by the tracks we leave.--- Native American proverb

October 16, 2015

Mr. President: About a month ago, an outrageous scandal erupted in the sedate world of Bridge: the Israeli team and a couple of others, withdrew from the World Bridge Championship, after irrefutable evidence of cheating. Of course, it is not the only country in the world to cheat and lie -- think of the Iraq war and others -- but the murderous brutality with which demonstrations, including today's day of rage, are being put down requires condemnation. No doubt our supine representatives will veto any resolution in the Security Council, so perhaps it is time for a quiet word with Mr. Netanyahu. Very disturbing footage from cell phones and other devices belie Israeli claims, and reveal a 'shoot first' policy against Palestinians including even those who are Israeli citizens.

Wars are debilitating. Think of Britain, the world power in 1914 reduced to a shambles after the Great War, and to a debtor nation as its gold and bonds were shipped to the US in the Second World War.

What earthly geopolitical reason was there for Iraq? The mess and the vacuum filled by ISIS is going to haunt the area for a long while. And people across the region blame the US -- 80 percent in a recent poll -- for ISIS.

What is Libya, if not the greatest social, political, economic and humanitarian disaster inflicted upon the region since the Second World War? What is the strategic or even tactical gain? And while the lies about preventing an impending slaughter in Benghazi might play with the general public, anyone investigating the facts knows the civilians killed in the Libyan army advance were barely a few hundred. After civil strife and the destruction of infrastructure leading to thousands of deaths, and the imposition of disparate groups including religious fanatics holding power in their own areas, the country is a disintegrating mess exporting religious fanaticism south as far as Nigeria. When Defense Secretary Gates opposed the Libyan adventure, he was outshouted by a belligerent Hillary Clinton and her White House allies, so the voice of sanity (as in Colin Powell's 'pottery barn rule' before Iraq war) was lost.

With all the millions whose lives are disrupted, who lose their homes, sometimes their existence, their country, who flee as refugees with just the clothes on their backs, ready to be exploited by ruthless smugglers, and going to countries where they are far from welcome, the question for our decision makers is simple: All for what?

Libya led Africa on the Human Development Index; where is it now? All the death and dying from Libya through Egypt -- with our new friend Mr. Sissi -- and on to Afghanistan, where the Taleban attack on Kunduz reminds us of their strength; all this human misery for what? Do our leaders have a conscience?

In the first Democratic candidates debate this week, Mrs. Clinton claimed she was a progressive. Despite a neo-con legacy of the triple disasters in Ukraine, Libya and Syria (where Bashar al-Assad remains wildly popular in the areas under government control), the gutting of the safety net, under husband Bill and the disastrous bank deregulation leading to the predictable 2008 financial disaster ... a halting Bernie Sanders did little to refute her claim.

In the meantime, 158 families have so far contributed more than half the total funds in this presidential election, and the Democratic party like its GOP rival is a confirmed tool of the elite. The major banks now own 44 percent of assets. They had a little over 20 percent in 2008, and less than 10 percent in the seventies. Thanks to the Clintons, the oligarchy is firmly entrenched and nothing has been done in the past seven years to dislodge them. This column spoke of an opportunity to be a new Roosevelt in 2009 ... or forgettable. The choice is transparent.